Two days later I was standing down in the tunnel with Alex right next to me. The one leading to the superior node’s cave. It had been barred off and yet darkness rushed through into the main pathways. I was confident I could block it with a set of warding stones attuned to tenebrae and aer.

The tunnel itself was filled with something that felt very similar to my [Owl’s Shadow] Skill. I could barely see through it and it also dampened noise. Thankfully, the barrier was only a dozen metres from where we broke through.

“Can you make out anything?”, I asked my friend.

“Not really. My [Essence Sense] only gets darkness.”

“I think… Yes. I can shift through this. Let me bring you across the rift.”

“That would be good, thanks.”

I carefully tip-taloned forwards until my foot found the edge of the underground gorge. My own shadows slipped into the ones made from the node. I could feel a few centimetres deep into them even though they were not mine. That let me locate the other side. A simple thought after wrapping Alex in my darkness and we were across.

~ding~ Congratulations! For advancing the Skill [Eldritch Shift] past the second Breakpoint you have gained bonus experience.

~ding~ [Assassin] reached level 88. 2 Attribute Points awarded.

Oh. What? That was a Breakthrough? That seemed very… underwhelming.

“Where is the rift?”, Alex asked.

“I’ll push you away from it”, I said distractedly.

I had a Skill upgrade to investigate.

[Eldritch Shift]: Normal [Assassin]s avoid being seen by their target through physical means. Hiding in shadows has become too simple for you. You can use alienis mana from your soul to partially shift out of this realm. This can only be held for a short time. While shifted you may travel along paths unseen.

1st Breakthrough: You can shift your body outside and replace it with a set of three aspects. This effect can be reverted by shifting again or taking sufficient damage.

2nd Breakthrough: Your understanding of the beyond lets you take along others as long as they fit through the path. Beware, for they may not return the same!

That sounded ominous.

“Uhm, Alex? I got a Skill Breakthrough for the one that lets me teleport you along.”

“Oh, nice! Congratulations!”

“Thanks. Thing is, The last line is a little worrying. ‘Beware, for they may not return the same!’, is what it says.”

My friend went quiet. I could feel her body shifting to hold her chin with a finger.

“Yes. That’s probably true. For anyone but me. I’ve been in the Empty before, right? I even spoke to Truth. I don’t think you should use it on anyone weak-willed.”

I blinked. That made sense. The understanding I had gleaned from my prolonged exposure to the beyond was not something a simple mind or one easily distracted should see. Other than that, it was probably fine. I would just have to be a little careful with it.

“Thanks. I’ll make sure to only use it on you.”

I felt her smirk. She probably tried looking in my direction but was off by nearly half a metre.

“Exactly, darling!”

I could only hold my laughter in for a few moments. Alex joined in moments later. It was mostly kept to [Telepathy] but a few hooting snickers escaped my beak as well. They probably sounded similar to Alex’s voice with my body turned to metal again.

“Well, let’s keep going”, I said.

I was able to use my shadows to find a path through the rubble all around and pushed on my friend’s body to guide her along safely. Crystals were easily discernible from the aura they exuded. I carefully touched the first one I came across. A bit of vis and flux entered my body but it was far from the overwhelming amount I had pushed into me the last time. In fact, I found myself unable to move it into my Core, let alone my inner gate. I had capped myself once again. The node itself might be a little larger though with these crystals growing on the wall of the cavern.

I told Alex about my findings and she immediately started to absorb some vis. Maybe we should have been more careful but with only one source, she was far from overwhelmed.

We continued into the darkness and entered the actual cave. The walls opened up to both sides and upwards, covered in large vis crystals of superior density. In front of us, the ground was sloping downwards at a soft angle. I stretched my shadows all around to look for something interesting and noticed the darkness getting much thinner about two metres above and nearly disappearing after a little over three metres. My total reach extended to four metres by now so I reached a good bit into the air.

I thought about flying up to get a better overview but did not want to leave Alex alone. Instead, I dumped a slate of rock from my storage in front of us and we walked over the crystals covering the ground without touching any.

It took a total of six metres until the ground sloped upwards again. I had to quickly leave and get a new set of slates and after another six metres, we reached the node.

In front of us was an orb of glowing darkness. As weird as that may sound, the flux and aspects moving through it made the node glow while the tenebrae vis gushing out blanketed everything in black. The cave was only covered for a little over a metre here meaning I could not actually see anything standing on the ground but Alex reached well above. At least, I could simply take place on her shoulder.

“So, this is it?”, she asked.

“Yup.”

“And no Guardian?”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

We observed the cave for a bit longer before looking at each other.

“If I have to walk here more often, I’ll need something to ward off the darkness”, Alex said.

“Just get a Skill. Heh.”

“Because that’s soo easy…”

“I’m making warding stones anyways so I can probably get you one for yourself.”

“Can you show me how you’re making them?”

I nodded.

“Let me just see if the node would bring you more than the crystals.”

I reached out to the rapture in reality with a tendril of darkness. The node connected to my body without issue and I carefully pulled on its vis. The fact that it was not rushing into me was already a bad sign that I soon confirmed. What I had was all I could get from this. Nymph would probably be interested but that was for another time.

“Seems like a medium enriched Core is the max”, I said.

“Fair. I’ll just use the crystals, then. Still need to get there without dropping down.”

“I’m just gonna pile up a bunch near the barricade.”

“Sounds good.”

With that settled, we returned. The fact that there was no Guardian was rather surprising but then again, I knew of no other entry to the cave than the one we made and the one up top closed up by a crystal. Speaking of, that one was quite easily visible. Not from any light above but from the flow of the vis all around. A good bit rose into the roof and rifts along the wall but most of the energy move to just one spot. Most of what left the ground, at least. I could easily see how the crystals degraded in density the higher up on the wall they were.

We settled down in the village when we got back. Alex spent some time increasing her enrichment over the next few days but she took it much slower than me. We were also teaching some of the goblins and dwarves about absorbing vis and how to do it safely. It still seemed like it would go much slower than for us but maybe a few of them could get an Affinity or evolve within a few years.

I showed Alex how to make warding stone with my method which she quickly picked up on. The attuning to a specific type of vis was not very difficult to grasp for someone with such an elaborate sense for the supernatural. We quickly moved on to the thaumonomic sensor where I showed her some applications of my methods to traditional thaumaturgy. I had probably put some ideas into her mind that were impossible with the rigid research notes available in the Thaumonomicon. We had a short discussion on it and quickly agreed that most thaumaturges had their own progress in mind first and foremost. Why there even was anything in the tome was an interesting question but the only answer I could think of at that point was Truth having their soul in the game.

What I could do was collect a bunch of major vis crystals from the white forest to sell. That way, I would be able to pay the dwarves for their efforts after the return. On that note, they were really enjoying themselves teaching the goblins about their culture and the goblins accepted most of it. The rather forward behaviour of dwarven women was not something the greenskins adapted.

I was just about to leave for Borsdown when Fredreck asked me for a word. He led me to the dwarven hut where all six of them were sitting in a half-circle looking at me.

“It’s been a lil’ over a month now, eh?”, the leader started off, “I gotta say, you’ve given us somethin’ wonderful ta do. Thanks a lot, Fio!”

I bobbed my head.

“You’re welcome. You’re helping my friends out as well so thank you for that.”

They grinned and looked at each other.

“Well, about that. We’ve been thinking we might wanna stay a little longer.”

I swivelled my head around to observe everyone’s expressions. They were smiling with expectation or flat-out grinning.

“So?”, I asked.

“Well… Just about going back, and stuff. Ya were gonna escort us, right? What if we take a year or two more?”

“The village can sustain you so there’s no issue with staying. I’m not going to up and disappear just like that. I’ll be spending a lot of time in Borsdown and Serrington with my friends but the trip is rather short for me. If you know when you want to leave, you can just tell me the next time I come by.”

Lothar laughed.

“See? Told ya not to worry.”

Fredreck pulled up his nose.

“Well, yeah. Thanks. That leaves payment. We want to keep it to the copper. Six months at 10 gold each. 60 are paid already so that’s another 300 after you escort us back. In exchange, we can carry along a bunch of those superior vis crystals to sell. How’s that sound?”

I quickly thought about it. The price for a superior crystal was impossible to guess but it would probably be several vis coins per. That said, the goblins were filthy rich. As was I with them telling me to take as much as I wanted. One or two per dwarf would not be a problem.

“I don’t mind. You’ll have to find a way to carry them safely, though. Which I could do for ten gold each.”

“Oh, you’re on!”, Hedreck said, “That’s a great price for those things!”

“I won’t carry more than two per dwarf, though. I don’t think it’ll be an issue but the density of vis might interfere with my Skill.”

“That’s good with me”, Smia said. The others agreed as well.

“Well. Enjoy yourselves, then. I’ll be coming by every once in a while. The next time in a month or two, probably.”

“Farewell, Fio!”, they called out, “Stay safe!”

My facial feathers pulled into a smile as I said my farewells to them. Roguk and Ira were next on the list, even though I would meet them again very soon. They told me Luk was outside trying to hunt something in the valley and I decided to fly by him later. I waved to Chef and Horg and everyone else I passed by with a wing.

At the tunnel leading outside, Alex stopped me.

“See you soon, Fio”, she said in her chiming voice, “And thank you for all your help.”

“Of course. We’re friends, right?”

“We are. Have a safe flight!”

I bobbed my head and was off. Luk was out with two other goblins trailing some prey. I gave them a hoot as I passed over to which they responded with waving. It was time to go home and get some well-deserved rest.